beery



(No Model.)

M. F. BERRY.

TEMPORARY BINDER.

No. 392,402. Patented Nov. 6, 1888.

N. PETERS. Photo-Lilhugrnplwr. Wnshingicn. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT EEicE.

MAROELLUS F. BERRY, OF BROOKLYN, NEWV YORK.

TEMPORARY BINDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 392,402, dated November 6, 1888.

Application filed July 8, 1887. Serial No. 243,721. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARoELLUs F. BERRY, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Paper-Files or Temporary Binders, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to those files or binders in which the loose papers are retained in place by flexible needles or strips of metal inserted through perforations in the papersand subsequently bent over so as to lie upon the paper or cover; and the object of my invention is to provide in a very simple way for covering or shielding the bent ends of the needles or strips, whereby they are held in their bent position and security of the file is increased.

I employ, in combination with the flexible needles on which the papers are impaled and which are to be bent to retain the papers in place, a guard consisting of a strip of metal movable relatively to the needles and extending parallel with the bent portions of the needles, the said guard serving not only to re tain the needles in bent position, but to entirely cover and conceal the bent ends of the needles from View and also from anything catching upon them. The means for securing the guard may consist of prongs or spurs inserted in the same perforations that receive the needles, orin other perforations, and which serve by their engagement with said perforations to detachably secure the guard in place. The prongs or spurs of the guard are preferably inclined in opposite directions or divergent from each other, and to engage the spurs or prongs of the guard with the perforations it is in such case necessary to slightly bend or bow up the guard after the prong or spur at one end thereof has been engaged, so that the other prong or spur may be engaged. I provide the temporary binder or file with side covers, in one of which the needles or strips are secured, and the other side cover is formed with perforations which may be eyeleted, and through which the needles or strips pass freely and with which the covering-guard may be engaged, as well as with the perforations in the papers. Whenacover is employed, the guard may consist of a strip or bar pivoted to the cover, as at d, between the perforations for the needles, so as to swing laterally into position over the needles or to expose them.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a binder having side covers and embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view upon about the plane of the dotted line 00 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a corresponding section of the guard detached from other parts. Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the back portion of the binder upon about the plane of the dot ted line 3 y, Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a plan illustrating amodification of my invention; and Fig. 6 is a sectional View on the dotted line 2 2, Fig. 5.

Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A A designate the two side covers of the book, and B designates the flexible strips or needles, which may be secured, as shown at b, in one of the side covers, A, and which pass freely or loosely through perforations or holes, 12, in the other side cover, A.

The papers 0 are placed one upon another between the side covers, A A, and through them are passed the needles or strips B, and after the papers have all been impaled on the needles or strips B the latter are bent downward and toward each other upon the outer side of the side cover, A, having the openings or perforations b, through which they pass. The bending down of the needles or strips B is clearly illustrated on the outer side of the cover A.

It is desirable to have some means for pro tecting the bent ends of the needles or flexible strips B and holding them bent over, as shown in Fig. 2, and to this end I provide a guard,D, which is shown detached in Fig. 3. This guard may consist simply of a bar or strip of metal somewhat wider than the needles or flexible strips B, and it may have a concavo-convex transverse section, or be hollowed upon the under side, so that when placed over the bent needles Bits opposite edges will lie close to the side cover, A.

' The guard D may be secured in place at both ends, or it may be pivoted to the cover A between the perforations b,to swing laterally. I have shown it in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 as provided with prongs or spurs d, which are shown in Fig. 3 as cut or struck up from the same piece of metal with the guard D, and which may be inclined in opposite directions or divergent, as also shown in Fig. 3. These prongs or spurs d are engaged with the perforations or open- 5 ing 1/, and when the guard has the form of prongs or spurs here shown the prong or spur at one end of the guard is engaged with one of the perforations I), and the guard is then bowed up slightly in the direction of itslength, so as to decrease the distance between the prongs or spurs d, and the prong or spur at the other end of the guard is thus engaged with the other perforation or opening, b. The perforations or openings 1) may be and preferably are provided with eyelets or eyeleted, so that they will not be worn by the prongs or spurs d, and so that there will be less liability than there otherwise would be of the prongs or spurs becoming disengaged from the side cover, A.

The guard D may be of metal-such, for ex-- ample, as brassor of other materialsuch, for example, as hard india-rubber.

It is obvious that if the papers filed upon the needles or flexible strips B have well-defined and elear'cut perforations to receive these needles the prongs d of the guard D may be engaged with the perforations in the papers in the same manner that they are here en- 0 gaged with the perforations in the cover, and,

indeed, so far as the function of the guard D is concerned in covering the needles the cover A, over which the guard is placed, may be regarded as an additional paper or leaf. In most cases the prongs (I will project through the openings 1) slightly beyond the cover A, and will have a hold in the perforations in thepaper as well as in the perforations in the cover. In Fl 5 and (l I have represented the guard o D as pivoted at d to the cover A between the perforations b, and so as to be swung laterally overthe needles 1?, as shown by full lines in Fig. 5, so as to cover them, or into that position shown by dotted lines in said figure, so as to 5 expose the needles and permit them to be bent up. The ends of this guard may have prongs or spurs (1 less prominent than in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, to simply engage the perforations and prevent the guard from swinging. 0 It will be observed that when the guard D is applied over the bent ends of the needles it extends substantially parallel with the bent portions of the needles, and that it serves to entirely conceal the bent portions of the neodles from view and so guards their ends that it is impossible for anything to catch upon them. The guard D is movable relatively to the needles, and after the needles are bent down so that their bent portions lie in a straight 6o line, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, the guard is applied over them and the needles cannot be bent back to their vertical position until the guard D is first moved.

1 am aware that it is not new to secure the flexible needles of the file in bent position by slides, one for each needle, which are slipped longitudinally over the bent ends of the needles after they are brought to horizontal position; but these slides do not cover the points of the needles.

I am also aware that it is old in files to provide retaining lips or flanges under which the needles are slipped laterally after they are bent down; but in the use of these devices it is necessary to first bend down the needle to horizontal position and then spring it laterally, so that it may be thrust below the retaining flange or lip. This retaining flange or lip is not movable relatively to the needle, and one is necessary for each needle, and, moreover, such flange or lip does not protect and conceal from view the entire bent portion of the needle.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a binder for papers, the combination, with flexible needles on which papers are to be impaled and which are to be bent to retain the papers in place, of a guard consisting of a strip of metal movable relatively to the needles and extending parallel with the bent portions of the needles, the said guard serving not only to retain the needles in bent positions, but also to entirely cover and conceal the bent portions of the needles, substantially as herein described.

2. In a temporary binder, the combination, with flexible needles or strips for insertion through papers and to be subsequently bent over to retain the papers, of a guard overlying the bent ends of the needles or strips and having prongs or spurs for entering the perforations which receive the needles, substantially as herein described.

3. The combination, in a temporary binder, with flexible needles or strips for insertion through papers and to be afterward bent over to retain the papers, of the guard consisting of a strip or bar overlying the bent ends of the needles or strips and having the inclined and divergent prongs or spurs (Z for entering the perforations which receive the needles, substantially as herein described.

l. The combination, with the side covers, A A, and the needles or strips B,secured in one cover, the other cover being provided with openings 1) for the free passage of the needles or strips, of the guard D, having prongs or spurs ior entering the openings and retaining the guard in place to cover and protect the bent needles, substantially as herein described.

M. F. BERRY.

Vi t nesses:

O. IIALL, FREDK. H names. 

